Paul Pomeroy's photostream

Scanned from the negative. This was most likely taken by my father (probably in late 1946 or 1947).

The girl with the balloon, in front, and the little one in the upper left are my two oldest siblings. The two next to the younger sister look ready for Garry Winogrand and the 1964 World's Fair.

My oldest sister's somewhat edited response to seeing this:

"OMG, I totally love this photo. Yes, I remember some of those kids... The guy to my right was the kid who tripped me when he was with a group of other boys who were lying together on the ground and challenging me to jump over them. I was doing great until this boy raiised his leg as I passed over him and sent me flying...I had a crush on him and suspect he had one on me, hence the "boy way" of showing it...

The girl to the far right in the upper row I remember being named Betsy. The girl to my left is Connie. She was my best friend...a Mormon with whom I got into a fight over religion: I told her (erroneously) that 10 venial sins added up to a mortal sin. She disagreed. I stormed off to my apartment and she to hers and when I explained to Mom what the fight was about, Mom said I had that wrong... So much for my child's understandiing of Catechism ... After a few hours I trekked outside and found Connie. We made up and continued to be best friends."

I have no memories at all of my mother, who passed away this past September, ever taking a photograph and yet I'm pretty sure she took this one of my father and oldest sister sometime in early 1943. Of the hundreds of negatives I've scanned in over the past 2 weeks this remains one of my favorites.

One of the funnier photos I've scanned in here recently. I'm pretty sure my dad took the photo sometime in the early to mid 1940s.

I scanned this from the b&w negative. I'm not exactly sure what kind of film it was. The film is quite wide (the exposed area measures 2.5" x 1.625" — about 1.53:1) and has no imprint (or sprocket holes) along the edges. Maybe one of you more experienced with old film cameras would know?

I've been scanning in a cigar box full of b&w negatives - mostly photos my Dad took back in the 1940s. If you've ever done something similar then you know it can be as frustrating as it is rewarding at times especially when it comes to cleaning up all the junk that accumulates on negatives in 60 or 70 years.

Hard to know for sure now, but I think this box was my grandfather's. It was sitting in the back of a cabinet in the garage full of odds and ends (mostly fishing stuff but also a cellophane tape dispenser with a full roll of Christmas themed tape). I can tell how old the box is by the "cancellation mark" on the tax stamp which shows it was purchased in 1945.